A story by a Squadron Member's Grand Daughter
My grandfather was F/S S.D. Jolly, who was in a Lancaster 467 crew . View the P/O Dickson records.
I just thought it would interest you to know that Stanley Jolly and his crew were shot-down over Troyes, from there he & R. 'Bob' Hunter escaped, however they did not see each other again until they reached England.
Stan was found by French villagers who hid him and contacted the Underground. He was then given a false ID card, saying he was a 'Deaf & Dumb Masseur', and was moved from place to place until they could get him safely to England, and then back to Brisbane to his eagerly waiting family. Several years later, he regained contact with the young French girl who originally found him, and remained in contact with her & her family up until his death last month.
Last holidays, I visited the Australian War Memorial, and was amazed by all the memorabilia. Being only 16 and not knowing much about the war other than my grandfather's story, the War Memorial gave me a much greater insight into what my grandfather went through, which made me respect him even higher than before. We put poppies next to each of his crew members who were Killed In Action.
Before I end this letter, I'll leave you with a description of a picture which gives me Goosebumps every time I even think about it - my grandfather and his crew were playing with birds in a park, each are holding one bird. However, the only bird with it's wings clearly spread, was Col Dickson's bird, matching the wings on his Pilot's badge.
I don't know why it had such an effect on me, but it does.
Thanks for taking the time to read about my grandfather's story - he was always very proud of it, just as we were, and still are, proud of him.
This story has been emailed by Bec Lissmore.
